Just in front of Rasmussen stood Blake Mulcahy, who rocked an Eric Weddle jersey while leading chants of J-E-T-S....Jets! Jets! Jets!

"You know what the worst part about this is?" Mulcahy asked. "That I'm rooting for the Jets."

People were not tailgating outside of the stadium before the Chargers took on the Chiefs Sunday. They were tailhoping, tailgroaning, and above all, tailpraying.

Qualcomm was as loud as it's been all season long, but if you thought maybe it wasn't as loud as it could have been, it's because most fans burnt out their vocal chords in the three hours before kickoff.

You all know what needed to happen Sunday. For the Chargers to have had any chance of sneaking their way into the playoffs, they needed the Bengals to beat Baltimore and for the Jets to topple Miami.

A Ravens or a Dolphins win would have instantly eliminated San Diego and all but lobotomized the hometown crowd. As Simmons said of a potentially meaningless contest: "It would just feel like a preseason game."

But a preseason game it was not. Cincy beat the Ravens 34-17, New York beat the Dolphins 20-7, and you did not need a TV to find out who won.

Eruptions would intermittently surface throughout the Qualcomm parking lot Sunday. You'd hear score updates from the elevator attendant or security guards without solicitation. Amy Kovar, viewing alongside her husband, Garrett, said they would watch one game then wait for cheers to emerge before flipping channels. And then there was 21-year-old Sean Byrne...who couldn't even watch.

Byrne is a lifelong Chargers fan who opted not to sport his team's colors Sunday. He instead donned a Chad Ochocinco jersey as an homage to what temporarily became his second-favorite squad.

But in Ochocincoesque fashion, Byrne went off the beaten path when it came to those early games.

"Who's winning?" he asked when both contests were in the fourth quarter. "I'd like to watch, but I'm scared."

It was a dramatic turn of events from two weeks ago, when it seemed fate was going out of its way to keep the Bolts' postseason hopes from surfacing. In Week 15, the Dolphins hung on to beat the mighty Patriots 24-20, and the Ravens kicked six field goals — including a game-winner from 61 yards — to down the Lions 18-16.

At one point, the Chargers' odds to reach the playoffs was listed at 1.6 percent. And while fan Greg Jackson admitted he had given up on the season, fellow die-hard Dustin Tracy said his reaction to the percentage went as follows: "So you're saying there's a chance?"

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers tries to run the ball into the endzone in the 4th quarter as the Chargers took on the Kansas City Chiefs at Qualcomm Stadium Sunday afternoon.
— Earnie Grafton / UT San Diego

Chiefs running back Knile Davis gets swarmed at the line of scrimmage by defensive end Corey Liuget as the Chargers took on the Kansas City Chiefs at Qualcomm Stadium Sunday afternoon.
— Earnie Grafton / UT San Diego

Chargers receiver Eddie Royal gets taken down by Chiefs safety Kendrick Lewis after his 30 yard catch and run as the Chargers took on the Kansas City Chiefs at Qualcomm Stadium Sunday afternoon.
— Earnie Grafton / UT San Diego

Chargers receiver Eddie Royal gets taken down by Chiefs safety Kendrick Lewis after his 30 yard catch and run as the Chargers took on the Kansas City Chiefs at Qualcomm Stadium Sunday afternoon.
— Earnie Grafton / UT San Diego